10,000 civil servants join tsunami drill as Hong Kong ramps up emergency response capabilities after flood of Covid-19 criticism

The drill, code-named “Touch Down 1”, involved about 5 per cent of the government’s workforce from all 77 bureaus and departments. Among them, 900 civil service personnel were called out to various sites to coordinate responses.

“The ‘tsunami-like’ fifth wave [of Covid-19 infections] exacerbated the problems. That’s why we need to have the ability to mobilise, say 10,000 people, to solve an issue timely and accurately before it gets worse,” Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu told his colleagues who were called out to attend a simulated briefing in North Point.

He said the interdepartmental drill went smoothly and its impact on public services was minimal.

Revealing the exercise on Thursday afternoon, civil service chief Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan said it simulated a situation where a tsunami travelling across the ocean was likely to cause Hong Kong’s sea level to rise by three metres. That meant government workers would have to team up quickly to evacuate residents in low-lying areas before severe flooding occurred.

Yeung said the 10,000 civil servants involved were required to swiftly respond to the call to stand by after the scenario was announced internally before noon.

Among them, 300 from six units needed to report for duty at North Point Community Hall to attend the briefing which Lee joined, while another 600 civil servants from 26 government branches were deployed to various sites. The drill lasted three hours.